Sir Roger George Moore (born 14 October 1927) is an English actor. He is perhaps best known for playing British secret agent James Bond in seven films between 1973 and 1985 and he is the oldest actor to have played Bond. Moore also portrayed Simon Templar in The Saint from 1962 to 1969. He is a Goodwill Ambassador for the charity organisation UNICEF.

In the early 1950s, Moore worked as a model, appearing in print advertisements for knitwear (earning him the amusing nickname "The Big Knit"), and a wide range of other products such as toothpaste – an element that many critics have used as typifying his lightweight credentials as an actor. In his book, Last Man Standing: Tales From Tinseltown[5] (2014) Moore states in Ch 2 that his first television appearance was on 27 March 1949, in The Governess, by Patrick Hamilton, it was a live broadcast (as usual in that era) and he played the minor part of 'Bob Drew'. Other actors included Clive Morton and Betty Ann Davies.

Eventually, Moore made his name in television. He was the eponymous hero, Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, in the 1958-59 series Ivanhoe, a loose adaptation of the 1819 romantic novel by Sir Walter Scott set in the 1100s during the era of Richard the Lionheart, delving into Ivanhoe's conflict with Prince John. Shot mainly in England at Elstree Studios and Buckinghamshire, some of the show was also filmed in California due to a partnership with Columbia Studios' Screen Gems. Aimed at younger audiences, the pilot was filmed in color, a reflection of its comparatively high budget for a British children's adventure series of the period, but subsequent episodes were shot in black and white.[6]Christopher Lee and John Schlesinger were among the show's guest stars and series regulars included Robert Brown (who in the 1980s would play M in several James Bond films) as the squire Gurth, Peter Gilmore as Waldo Ivanhoe, Andrew Keir as villainous Prince John, and Bruce Seton as noble King Richard. Moore suffered broken ribs and a battle-axe blow to his helmet while performing some of his own stunts filming a season of 39 half-hour episodes and later reminisced, 'I felt a complete Charlie riding around in all that armour and damned stupid plumed helmet. I felt like a medieval fireman.'[7]

Moore's next television series involved playing the lead as "Silky" Harris for the ABC/Warner Brothers 1959-60 westernThe Alaskans, with co-stars Dorothy Provine as "Rocky," Jeff York as "Reno," and Ray Danton as "Nifty." The show ran for a single season of 37 hour-long episodes on Sunday nights. Though set in Skagway, Alaska, with a focus on the Klondike Gold Rush circa 1896, the series was filmed in the hot studio lot at Warner Brothers in Hollywood with the cast costumed in fur coats and hats. Moore found the work highly taxing and his off-camera affair with Provine complicated matters even more. He subsequently appeared as the questionable character "14 Karat John" in the two-part episode "Right Off the Boat" of the ABC/WB crime dramaThe Roaring 20s, with Rex Reason, John Dehner, Gary Vinson, and again Dorothy Provine, appearing in a similar role but with a different character name.[8]

Worldwide fame arrived after Lew Grade cast Moore as Simon Templar in a new adaptation of The Saint, based on the novels by Leslie Charteris. Moore said in an interview in 1963, that he wanted to buy the rights to Leslie Charteris's character and the trademarks. He also joked that the role was supposed to have been meant for Sean Connery who was unavailable. The television series was made in the UK with an eye to the American market, and its success there (and in other countries) made Moore a household name. By spring 1967 he had achieved international stardom. The series also established his suave, quipping style which he carried forward to James Bond. Moore went on to direct several episodes of the later series, which moved into colour in 1967.

The Saint ran from 1962 for six seasons and 118 episodes, making it (in a tie with The Avengers) the longest-running series of its kind on British television. However, Moore grew increasingly tired of the role, and was keen to branch out. He made two films immediately after the series had ended: Crossplot, a lightweight 'spy caper' movie, and the more challenging The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970). Directed by Basil Dearden, it gave Moore the opportunity to demonstrate a wider versatility than the role of Simon Templar had allowed, although reviews at the time were lukewarm, and both did little business at the box office.

Television lured Moore back to star alongside Tony Curtis in The Persuaders!. The show featured the adventures of two millionaire playboys across Europe. Moore was paid the then-unheard-of sum of £1 million for a single series, making him the highest paid television actor in the world. However, Lew Grade claimed in his autobiography Still Dancing, that Moore and Curtis "didn't hit it off all that well." Curtis refused to spend more time on set than was strictly necessary, while Moore was always willing to work overtime.

According to the DVD commentary, neither Roger Moore, an uncredited co-producer, nor Robert S. Baker, the credited producer, ever had a contract other than a handshake with Lew Grade. They produced the entire 24 episodes without a single written word guaranteeing that they would ever be paid.[11]

The series failed in America, where it had been pre-sold to ABC, but it was successful in Europe and Australia. In Germany, where the series was aired under the name Die Zwei ("The Two"), it became a hit through especially amusing dubbing which only barely used translations of the original dialogue. In Britain it was also popular, although on its premiere on the ITV network, it was beaten in the ratings by repeats of Monty Python's Flying Circus on BBC One. Channel 4 repeated both The Avengers and The Persuaders! in 1995. Since then, The Persuaders! has been issued on DVD, while in France, where the series (entitled Amicalement Vôtre) had always been popular, the DVD releases accompanied a monthly magazine of the same name.

Because of his commitment to several television shows, in particular the long-lasting series The Saint, Roger Moore was unavailable for the James Bond franchise for a considerable time. His participation in The Saint was not only as actor, but also as a producer and director, and he also became involved in developing the series The Persuaders!. Moore stated in his autobiography My Word Is My Bond (2008) that he had neither been approached to play James Bond in Dr. No, nor does he feel that he had ever been considered. It was only after Sean Connery had declared in 1966 that he would not play Bond any longer that Moore became aware that he might be a contender for the role. However, after George Lazenby was cast in 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Connery played Bond again in Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Moore did not consider the possibility until it seemed abundantly clear that Connery had in fact stepped down as Bond for good. At that point Moore was approached, and he accepted producer Albert Broccoli's offer in August 1972. In his autobiography Moore writes that he had to cut his hair and lose weight for the role. Although he resented having to make those changes, he was finally cast as James Bond in Live and Let Die (1973).

Moore is the longest-serving James Bond actor, having spent 12 years in the role (from his debut in 1973, to his retirement from the role in 1985), having made seven official films in a row. Moore is the oldest actor to have played Bond - he was 45 in Live and Let Die (1973), and 58 when he announced his retirement on 3 December 1985.

Moore's Bond was very different from the version created by Ian Fleming. Screenwriters like George MacDonald Fraser provided scenarios in which Moore was cast as a seasoned, debonair playboy who would always have a trick or gadget in stock when he needed it. This was designed to serve the contemporary taste of the 1970s. Moore's version of Bond was also known for his sense of humour and witty one liners, but also an extremely skilled detective with a cunning mind.

In 2004, Moore was voted 'Best Bond' in an Academy Awards poll, and he won with 62% of votes in another poll in 2008. In 1987 he hosted Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond.

During Moore's Bond period he starred in 13 other movies, beginning with a thriller featuring Susannah York and entitled Gold (1974). He portrayed an adventurer in Africa opposite Lee Marvin in Shout at the Devil (1976), a commando with Richard Burton and Richard Harris in the unorthodox action film The Wild Geese (1978), a counter-terrorism expert opposite Anthony Perkins in the thriller North Sea Hijack (1979), and a millionaire so obsessed with Roger Moore that he had had plastic surgery to look like his hero in Cannonball Run (1981). He even made a cameo as Chief Inspector Clouseau, posing as a famous movie star, in Curse of the Pink Panther (1983) (for which he was credited as "Turk Thrust II"). However, most of these films were neither critically acclaimed nor commercially successful. Moore was widely criticised for making three movies in South Africa under the Apartheid regime during the 1970s (Gold, Shout at the Devil, and The Wild Geese).

Moore did not act onscreen for five years after he stopped playing Bond. In 1990 he appeared in several films and writer-director Michael Feeney Callan's television series My Riviera; he starred in the film Bed & Breakfast which was shot in 1989.[12] At the age of 73, Moore played a flamboyant homosexual in Boat Trip (2002).

The satirical British TV show Spitting Image once had a sketch in which their latex likeness of Moore, when asked to display emotions by an offscreen director, does nothing but raise an eyebrow. Moore himself has stated that he thought the sketch was funny, and took it in good humour. Indeed, he had always embraced the 'eyebrows' gag wholeheartedly, slyly claiming that he 'only had three expressions as Bond: right eyebrow raised, left eyebrow raised and eyebrows crossed when grabbed by Jaws'. Spitting Image continued the joke, featuring a Bond movie spoof, The Man with the Wooden Delivery, with Moore's puppet receiving orders from Margaret Thatcher to kill Mikhail Gorbachev. Other comedy shows at that time ridiculed Moore's acting, with Rory Bremner once claiming to have had a death threat from an irate fan of Moore's, following one such routine.[13]

He also played the role of a secret agent in the Victoria Wood Christmas Special on BBC1 show over the festive period in 2009. Filming all his scenes in the London Eye, his mission was to eliminate another agent whose file photo looks just like Pierce Brosnan.

Moore's friend Audrey Hepburn had impressed him with her work for UNICEF, and consequently he became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1991. He was the voice of Father Christmas or 'Santa' in the 2004 UNICEF cartoon The Fly Who Loved Me.[16]

Moore was involved in the production of a video for PETA that protests against the production and wholesale of foie gras. Moore narrates the video.[17] His assistance in this situation, and being a strong spokesman against foie gras, has led to the department store Selfridges agreeing to remove foie gras from their shelves.[18] Moore claims Harvey Nichols, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose 'removed it from their shelves'.[19][20]

In 1946, aged 19 Moore married a fellow RADA student; the actress and ice skater Doorn Van Steyn (born Lucy Woodard), who was six years his senior.[21] Moore and Van Steyn lived in Streatham with her family, but tensions over money, and her lack of belief in his acting ability affected their relationship.[22] Moore has since said that Van Steyn had repeatedly punched and scratched him and also threw a teapot at him on one occasion.[21]

In 1952, Moore met the Welsh singer Dorothy Squires, who was 13 years his senior, and Van Steyn and Moore divorced the following year.[23] Squires and Moore were married in New York and moved to the United States in 1954 to develop their careers; but tensions developed in their marriage due to their age differences and Moore's infatuation with the actress Dorothy Provine, and they moved back to the United Kingdom in 1961.[23] Squires suffered a series of miscarriages during their marriage and Moore later said the outcome of their marriage might have been different if they had been able to have children.[23]

In their tempestuous relationship Squires smashed a guitar over his head, and after learning of his affair with the Italian actress Luisa Mattioli, who became Moore's third wife, Moore said that "She threw a brick through my window. She reached through the glass and grabbed my shirt and she cut her arms doing it...The police came and they said, 'Madam, you're bleeding' and she said, 'It's my heart that's bleeding'"[21] Squires intercepted letters from Mattioli to Moore and planned to include them in her autobiography; but the couple won injunctions against the publication in 1977, which led Squires to unsuccessfully sue them for loss of earnings.[23] The numerous legal cases launched by Squires led her to be declared a vexatious litigant in 1988. Moore paid Squires's hospital bills after her cancer treatment in 1996, and upon her death in 2001.[24][25]

In 1961, while filming The Rape of the Sabine Women in Italy, Moore left Squires for the Italian actress Luisa Mattioli.[25] Squires refused to accept their separation, and sued Moore for loss of conjugal rights, but Moore refused the court's order to return to Squires in 28 days.[23][25] Squires also smashed windows at a house in France where Moore and Mattioli were living, and unsuccessfully sued the actor Kenneth More for libel, as More had introduced Moore and Mattioli at a charity event as "Mr Roger Moore and his wife".[25] Moore and Mattioli lived together until 1969, when Squires finally granted him a divorce, after they had been separated for seven years.[24] At Moore and Mattioli's marriage in April 1969 at the Caxton Hall in Westminster, London, a crowd of 600 people were outside, with women screaming his name.[26]

Moore had three children with Mattioli; a daughter, Deborah (born 1963) who has become an established actor, and two sons; Geoffrey and Christian.[27] Geoffrey is also an actor,[28] and appeared alongside his father in the 1976 film Sherlock Holmes in New York, in later life he co-founded Hush Restaurant in Mayfair, London, with Jamie Barber.[29] Moore's youngest son, Christian, is a film producer.[30]

Moore and Mattioli separated in 1993 after Moore's affinity with a Swedish born Danish socialite, Christina "Kiki" Tholstrup.[25] Moore later described his prostate cancer diagnosis in 1993 as "life-changing", which led him to reassess his life and marriage.[27] Mattioli and Tholstrup had long been friends; but Mattioli was scathing of her in the book she subsequently wrote about her relationship with Moore, Nothing Lasts Forever, describing how she felt betrayed by Tholstrup and discarded by Moore.[25][27] In her book Mattioli wrote that she felt Tholstrup had "wanted to become me" and also described her as "a hanger-on who has had two husbands and three facelifts".[25]

Moore remained silent on his divorce from Mattioli, later saying that he did not wish to hurt his children by "engaging in a war of words".[27] Moore's children refused to speak to him for a period after the divorce, but they were later reconciled with their father.[27] Mattioli refused to grant Moore a divorce until 2000, when a £10 million settlement was agreed.[31] Moore subsequently married Tholstrup in 2002.[27] Moore would later say that he loved Tholstrup as she was "organised", "serene", "loving" and "calm", saying that "I have a difficult life. I rely on Kristina totally. When we are travelling for my job she is the one who packs. Kristina takes care of all that."[27] Moore also said that his marriage to Tholstrop was "a tranquil relationship, there are no arguments."[32]

Moore is a lifelong supporter of the Conservative Party, and he publicly endorsed the party during the 2001 general election campaign.[33] In 2011, Moore gave his support to Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron on his policy on the European Union, stating: "I think he's doing absolutely wonderfully well, despite the opposition from many members of his own party. Traitors, I call them. I mean any hardliner within the Conservative Party who speaks out against their leader. You should support your leader."[34]

Moore became a tax exile from the United Kingdom in 1978, originally to Switzerland, and currently divides his year between his three homes; an apartment in Monte Carlo, Monaco, a chalet in Crans-Montana, Switzerland and a home in the south of France.[32][35] Moore is a notable resident of Monaco, having been appointed a Goodwill Ambassador of Monaco by Prince Albert II for his efforts in internationally promoting and publicizing the principality.[36] Moore has been scathing of the Russian population in Monaco, saying that "I'm afraid we're overstuffed with Russians. All the restaurant menus are in Russian now.”[35]

Moore has been vocal in his defence of his tax status, saying that in the 1970s he had been urged by his "accountants, agents and lawyers" that moving abroad was essential due to the fact that "...you would never be able to save enough to ensure that you had any sort of livelihood if you didn't work" as a result of the punitive taxation rates imposed on unearned income.[21] Moore said in 2011 that his decision to live abroad was "...not about tax. That's a serious part of it. I come back to England often enough not to miss it, to see the changes, to find some of the changes good...I paid my taxes at the time that I was earning a decent income, so I've paid my due."[37]

On 11 October 2007, three days before he turned 80, Moore was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work on television and in film. Attending the ceremony were family, friends, and Richard Kiel, with whom he had acted in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. Moore's star was the 2,350th star installed, and is appropriately located at 7007 Hollywood Boulevard.[43]

On 21 November 2012, Moore was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from the University of Hertfordshire, for his outstanding contribution to the UK film and television industry for over 50 years, in particular film and television production in the County of Hertfordshire.[44]

Moore wrote a book about the filming of Live and Let Die, based on his diaries. Roger Moore as James Bond: Roger Moore's Own Account of Filming Live and Let Die was published in London in 1973, by Pan Books. The book includes an acknowledgment to Sean Connery, with whom Moore has been friends for many years: "I would also like to thank Sean Connery – with whom it would not have been possible."

On 16 October 2012, Bond On Bond was published to tie in with the 50th anniversary of the James Bond films. The book, with many pictures, is based on Moore's own memories, thoughts, and anecdotes about all things 007.